Politics & Government

NJ Temp Workers Say Tragic Car Crash Shows Urgent Need For Change

The battle lines have been drawn over the "Temporary Workers Bill of Rights" in New Jersey. Here's what you need to know.

Activists rally in support of a proposed state law dubbed the "Temporary Workers Bill of Rights" in Trenton, New Jersey on Oct. 17, 2022.
Activists rally in support of a proposed state law dubbed the "Temporary Workers Bill of Rights" in Trenton, New Jersey on Oct. 17, 2022. (Photo courtesy of Make the Road New Jersey)

NEW JERSEY — For Clara Estrella, the American Dream ended on the Palisades Interstate Parkway in New Jersey.

According to the police report, the crash happened around 1:30 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 2. It was sudden, violent and deadly.

A driver in a Ford Econoline E350 van was transporting 11 passengers from the Amscan warehouse in Chester, New York. They’d just put in a shift there as temporary workers employed with On Target Staffing, one of the largest agencies in New Jersey.

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As the van passed Englewood Cliffs on a 55-mph section of the road, the driver apparently had a medical emergency. The vehicle veered out of the left lane, crossing onto a grassy spot on the center median. It flipped over, rolling several times and kicking up mounds of dirt in its wake before coming to a stop near a grove of trees.

By the time police arrived on the scene, there was already a crowd of bystanders gathered around the wreckage. Several people were trapped inside the mangled vehicle for nearly an hour until first responders set them free.

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When it was all over, four were dead and eight were in the hospital. The deceased – all New York residents – included the 54-year-old driver, George Massey, and three passengers: Jose Luis Romero Munoz, 59, Candida Frias, 59, and Estrella, 49, a recent immigrant from Dominican Republic.

And like the others, Estrella will be missed, a relative said.

“She was a beautiful person,” her cousin told reporters after the crash. “She came over here to have a better life.”

A coalition of social justice groups has since demanded an investigation into On Target Staffing, and Amscan, a party supply company owned by Party City Holdings. Read their full letter to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) here.

A Party City spokesperson released a statement about the crash to NJ.com:

“It is with heavy hearts that we can confirm our Chester distribution center team suffered the loss of three valued team members early this morning. We are deeply saddened to hear of the tragic car accident that occurred and offer our most heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of those affected. We pray for the recovery and healing of the additional team members injured in the accident.”

Patch reached out to Party City with multiple requests seeking a comment on the crash. We will update this article with any reply we receive.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for On Target Staffing gave Patch the following statement when reached for comment:

“On Target did not own or operate the van that was involved in the tragic September 2, 2022 accident, nor was the driver employed or paid by On Target. In fact, the onboarding materials signed by On Target team members confirms that we do not own or operate shuttles or provide transportation to our client’s worksites. The September accident was tragic, and our deepest sympathy is with the victims and their loved ones.”

But that isn't the entire story, advocates and relatives of the dead workers allege.

“This company, it makes the employees sign a paper, saying that they have to take this transportation and they cannot take their own private transportation,” Estrella’s cousin told a reporter, adding that workers had complained multiple times about the van before the crash.

Sadly, September’s tragic crash is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the dangers that temporary workers face on the job, advocates say. All across New Jersey, people are being packed like sardines into vans and shipped off to work for poverty wages in often-dangerous conditions. They face salary theft … retaliation … discrimination.

And they’re finally standing up and saying “enough,” activists warn.

TEMPING 2.0: A WHOLE NEW BALLGAME

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 127,000 people are employed by temporary staffing agencies in New Jersey.

The Mount Laurel-based New Jersey Staffing Alliance, a trade association that advocates for temping firms, gave a glimpse into the growing influence of the industry in a recent news release:

“In New Jersey alone, over 90,000 temporary workers assist employers each week throughout the state, according to the American Staffing Association. Nearly a million temporary workers each year bring an average of $5.3 billion dollars to the state’s economy … Temporary employees currently staff some of the largest industries in the state. Most workers are working in the transportation, distributions and logistics operations, which in 2020, employed 401,005 workers, or 12.5 percent of the state’s private sector workers.”

But things have changed a lot from the days of the stereotypical “Kelly Girl” working as a typist or file clerk in the offices of America in the 1960s.

In recent years, temping has largely shifted from office buildings to warehouses in New Jersey, the National Employment Law Project says. Industrial jobs made up nearly half of all temp assignments in 2018, while office and administrative positions made up less than 17 percent.

Like others across the U.S., many people in New Jersey did their shopping from home during the pandemic, fueling an online boom that raked in massive profits for some of the nation’s largest corporations. And warehouses – an integral part of their supply chain – couldn’t have met the demand without the help of temporary workers.

According to the National Employment Law Project, it’s a whole new ballgame – and big corporations looking to cut costs are the winners:

“Shipping goods to Walmart stores. Sorting recyclables for waste management. Processing New England seafood. Filling orders for Nike. Across the nation and across New Jersey, major companies are creating insecurity for workers and their families as corporate profits skyrocket. They have outsourced work—not overseas, but to temp agencies here in New Jersey—all along their supply chains, from production to shipping and packing of their products.”

Many of these jobs are located on the I-95 corridor, unpacking and repackaging consumer goods that arrive through one of the nation’s busiest shipping destinations, Port Newark. Meanwhile, temp agencies have set up offices in towns and cities that include New Brunswick, Union City, Elizabeth, Paterson, Passaic, Plainfield and Trenton – almost always near neighborhoods with high percentages of Latino/Latina residents.

It's a troublesome trend in a state where Latina women face one of the nation’s worst pay disparities, according to a 2021 report from the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers University. Researchers offered several theories as to why the gap exists. One big reason? Latina workers are being “segregated” into low-paying service jobs. Read More: Latina Workers In NJ Face One Of America's Ugliest Pay Gaps

For many temporary workers, the nomenclature is inaccurate: they’re in it for the long haul. Advocates say that a large percentage of temp workers have earned their livings like this for years – decades for some.

Industry spokespeople point out that there have been plenty of success stories over the years.

Bo Jackson, a clergy member in Elizabeth, started as a temporary worker and now owns his own business, Best Solution Pest Management.

“As a successful business owner, I own my own home, have two trucks and over 700 accounts across Pennsylvania and New Jersey,” Jackson told the New Jersey Staffing Alliance (NJSA).

“My opinion as a business owner – as someone having nothing, making $100 a month, to owning a business myself now – temp agencies are vital, especially in urban areas,” Jackson said.

The NJSA also offered the example of Rosa Muñoz of Paterson, who recently worked with a temp agency to land a job in a clothing factory while she raises her 14-year-old son.

“I’m so excited because the current place I am working at has made me an offer to become a permanent full-time placement,” Muñoz said. “The job will have benefits, health insurance, and personal days. The factory is really organized, they treat me really well, and my time there is enjoyable.”

But despite these inspiring stories, the experience is radically different for many other temp workers, activists say. And it begins the moment they step out their front door.

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HITTING THE ROAD

Patch recently spoke about life as a temporary worker with Garrett O’Connor, director of worker organizing and policy with Make the Road New Jersey, and Steven Mercado, who has been earning his living this way in warehouses across the state for years.

According to O’Connor and Mercado, a typical trip to work plays out the same way:

Most of the time, workers are responsible for getting themselves to the job agency. For many, that means waking up around 5 a.m. Once they arrive, there will usually be a passenger van that’s already parked there, or is on the way to pick them up. The vans – which are often crowded to their limits – may have a lack of seat belts. Their drivers are mostly strangers, and their credentials are unknown. Sometimes the workers are briefed on their job assignments, how many workers are needed, and where they’ll be headed that day. Often, they aren’t. The vans drive to the job site, which can take up to an hour. Then, after the work day is over, the vans come back, pick them up and return to the starting line again. None of this travel time is done on the clock.

There’s no way to tell who these drivers are working for, or if their track records are safe, O’Connor and Mercado said. It’s a simple choice: get in the van or go home. And that’s if the driver is on time in the first place … which they often aren’t.

That’s not all, O’Connor and Mercado said. Often, workers are taken all the way to the job site, only to learn that the company doesn’t need all of them. The left-out workers then have to wait around until the vans return to pick up the group, taking the long trip back home alongside their peers – but without any pay.

“The next day is the same, we just have to come back,” Mercado said. “Sometimes they have jobs, sometimes not.”

Transportation has been a long-running worry among temporary workers. In 2020, as the coronavirus rates were skyrocketing in New Jersey, several workers told Gothamist/WNYC that they were squeezed into crowded minivans and likely came home infected with the virus. Some were employed with agencies like On Target Staffing, JM Staffing Solutions in New Brunswick, or Temps4U and Super Staffing in Passaic, and labored for companies including Raritan Pharmaceuticals in East Brunswick and Jimmy's Cookies in Clifton.

Ironically, many of these workers had “transportation” costs deducted from their paychecks, they told Gothamist.

It’s a complaint that has endured after the pandemic, O’Connor told Patch.

How much do these fees usually come to? In a June report from New Labor and Make the Road New Jersey, a woman identified as “Nidia R.” said a temp agency in Elizabeth was charging her $55 per week for transportation costs, even if the job is just 10 minutes away.

“We come home with a paycheck that is less than minimum wage,” she said.

It’s worth noting that not all temporary workers are complaining about digging into their wallets to pay for a ride to the job, the NJSA has countered. They include Arlene Bautista, who was born and raised in the Dominican Republic before she moved to New Jersey. The mother of two started as a temporary employee at a New Jersey staffing agency and is now a full-time recruiter for a company in Parsippany.

Bautista said she depended on temping work to raise her children and put them through private school. And now that she’s working on the other side of the office, it still doesn’t seem to be an issue.

“I never received a complaint for the transport fee in all my time working as a recruiter,” Bautista said. “I have talked to people who ask if they offer transportation, especially for some people who don't have a car and can't pay car insurance, so that is something that it doesn't hurt them to pay.”

“That’s how I see it … it’s something so they can have that option if needed,” she added.

THE CRASH REPORT

A 2011 Ford E-Series van like the one involved in the Sept. 2 crash can be configured to hold up to 14 passengers and a driver, the Kelly Blue Book states.

According to the Palisades Interstate Park Commission’s website, vehicles that carry more than 15 passengers in addition to the driver need a written permit to travel on the highway, which passes through New Jersey and New York.

After Patch filed an OPRA request on Oct. 18 for more details about the crash, the Palisades Interstate Parkway Police Department released a four-page crash investigation report on Nov. 3, noting that other supplementary reports “are not yet completed.”

A police officer who was at the scene described what they saw that day:

“I noticed a dark-colored, large Ford van on its side, front facing east. The undercarriage was facing south and resting against a tree. I noticed multiple gauges in the center median grass likely caused by the vehicle overturning multiple times. There were multiple parties surrounding the area. After deciphering the difference between patients and bystanders, other officers and I began triage of patients. [Another officer] and I assisted an unknown female out of the windshield area of the van and put her in a safe location. Multiple patients were attempting to move away from the wreckage. Triage was provided to those patients … From the tire marks in the grass median area, the heavy kick-up of dirt where the vehicle impacted the ground, and the fact that the van was resting against a tree in the described above manner, the vehicle overturned multiple times causing a mass casualty event.”

Several hospitalized passengers later provided statements to police about the crash, saying that the driver became “ill” and was potentially having breathing issues similar to an asthmatic condition.

The van was owned by an individual with a New York City address, the report shows. It was registered in the state of New York.

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THE RISKS OF ‘TEMPING’

Transportation isn’t the only way that temporary workers are getting the short end of the stick, advocates say.

Despite the extra risks and challenges, temporary workers earn significantly less than permanent or even part-time peers who do the same jobs, advocates say. Most of them also don’t get health benefits, leaving their families uninsured.

And then there are the risks.

On Thursday, the sister of a man killed while on the job in a warehouse in Kearny testified before a U.S. House committee at a hearing about worker safety. Local labor groups and Rep. Donald Norcross of New Jersey’s 1st Congressional District had called for the hearing after the deaths of three Amazon workers in New Jersey last summer. Read More: 3 NJ Amazon Workers Died In A Month, Prompting Investigations

According to Make the Road New Jersey, Edilberto Caicedo was doing work for TI Logistics, a company that managed warehousing and distribution of products for companies like CVS and American Eagle. He was employed by an unlicensed staffing agency, the group claims.

“The conditions in my brother Edilberto’s workplace were not safe at all,” said his bereaved sibling, Janeth Caicedo.

Caicedo said her brother had previously told her there was a lack of safety regulations in his workplace before his skull was crushed while working on a forklift.

“Equipment wasn’t maintained, and continued to be used when it wasn’t working properly, but temporary warehouse workers like my brother could not speak up about safety risks and expect to keep their jobs,” she said.

The Caicedos aren’t alone, statistics show.

A study from the National Employment Law Project found that nearly one in five temporary workers say they didn’t get crucial training prior to a new assignment. Meanwhile, about 17 percent of workers said they have experienced a job-related injury or illness while employed through a staffing agency.

A recent report titled “Essential and Unprotected,” Make the Road New Jersey and New Labor highlighted stories from workers who alleged that “abuse, wage theft, age discrimination and unsafe work conditions” are impacting hundreds of thousands of predominantly Black and Latinx temporary workers – many of whom risked their lives as front-line, essential employees during the pandemic. Read More: 'Unfair And Humiliating': NJ Temp Workers Deserve More, Advocates Say

Some of their statements included:

Yolanda J. – “One problem that comes up most often is that in some factories that the temp agency sends us to, they only give one 30-minute break for a 12-hour shift, and they do not provide us with more breaks. In the factory in which I am currently working, we start at 6 a.m. and leave at 7 p.m. We only get a 30-minute break for lunch during the day. This is exhausting, but if we refuse to work 13 hours, the company doesn't call us back.”

Geferson I. – “At my job, in the height of the pandemic, they tested us for the COVID-19 virus every Wednesday. In April of 2021, I tested positive for COVID -19 at my job. Once I tested positive, they told me to stay home if I had symptoms. I agreed because I did not want to get my co-workers sick. I was home for seven days without pay. I asked for my paid sick days, but the temp agency refused to pay me. They did not pay me for any of the days I missed. Even if they had paid me five sick days as covered under the law, I would have needed more than five to recover and quarantine. Because of this, I have fallen behind on bills and rent. Warehouses used temp agencies to obtain our labor during the pandemic. We were disposable to them. They relied on us to keep their business going, but they didn't treat us with humanity.”

Blanca A. – “While I was working for a temp agency, the agency closed and we didn’t get paid. The workers and I organized with New Labor. We marched and made a formal complaint to the Department of Labor. After a few months, we won. But that same agency reappeared with a different name. It is not fair that this is happening to us. At another temp agency in New Brunswick, I requested my sick days and they always denied them. One day, I spoke with my manager and mentioned that it was my right as a worker to request these days. The manager told me to go away and fired me. It made me angry because four other co-workers also got fired for doing the same thing.”

Temp workers’ complaints about alleged violations by New Jersey agencies, including North Brunswick-based On Target Staffing, have caught the eye of state and federal officials in the recent past.

In January, acting on an “employee complaint” – the NJDOL announced a settlement with On Target and client company Diamond Chemical Inc. of East Rutherford. Accused of improperly deducting transportation costs and breaks of less than 20 minutes from employees’ pay, the two companies agreed to give $50,000 to 271 workers to settle the case.

Meanwhile, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has levied tens of thousands of dollars in penalties against an On Target location in Carlstadt for allegedly committing “serious” and “repeat” violations. OSHA has also launched recent complaint-based inspections at On Target locations in Lakewood, Mount Holly and Wayne – closing the case each time.

Patch reached out multiple times to On Target Staffing with questions about their transportation policies and the above settlement/penalties. We will update this article with any reply we receive.

On Target isn’t the only temp agency with roots in New Jersey that has recently seen heat from the feds.

Earlier this month, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey ordered national staffing agency Advantix Logistics Corp. to pay $65,000 in damages to a Garden State employee who was allegedly fired after they raised concerns about not getting paid for all of their hours worked.

Authorities said:

“The court’s action follows an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division that alleged Advantix Logistics Corp. fired the employee in February 2022 because he complained to his supervisor that he was not paid for all hours worked. The division also found that Advantix continued to threaten the worker when they asked why their final paycheck did not include all wages earned and tried to stop workers from cooperating with the investigation of the company’s pay practices. These actions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s anti-retaliation and investigatory provisions.”

Advantix – which has an office in Lyndhurst – notes on its website that it has done business with clients such as Amazon, Cargill, Costco, Domino’s Pizza, Nestle, Sam’s Club, ShopRite and Wholesome Food Services.

Patch reached out to Advantix with an email seeking comment about the consent judgement, but didn't receive a reply.

‘TEMP WORKER BILL OF RIGHTS’

For the vast majority of workers, the state’s current laws – or lack thereof – are creating a weird legal gray area that allow temp agencies and their clients to play hot potato when it comes to liability, advocates say.

“Temp agencies compete to attract clients by offering labor cheaply, and in order to compete – according to the National Employment Law Project – they tend to ‘illegally cut labor costs to keep their contracts,’” O’Connor told Patch. “And host companies can look the other way because they are not the direct employer of their temporary workers.”

In addition, their status as independent contractors – the same as Uber drivers and DoorDashers (although some industry groups have criticized this comparison) – means that they have only a fraction of the legal rights that a regular “staff” worker sees in New Jersey. Read More: DoorDash Drivers Demand 'Tip Transparency' From Company

According to the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, the agency doesn't have any regulations that specifically address protections for temporary workers, with a few exceptions:

  • All temporary help service firms as defined by N.J.A.C. 13:45B-1.2 (see also N.J.S.A. 34:8-43 et seq.), are required to be registered annually with the Division of Consumer Affairs in order to operate in New Jersey ... Furthermore, N.J.A.C. 13:45B-12.3 sets out a temporary help service firms’ duties when providing transportation to employed individuals, including transportation-related recordkeeping requirements.
  • Additionally, N.J.S.A. 56:8-1.1 and 1.2 are statutory provisions that address temporary help service firms, including the conditions of transportation provided to temporary workers. See 56:8-1.1(d). Of further note, N.J.S.A. 56:8-1.2 also provides that “[i]t shall be an unlawful practice for a temporary help service firm … to willfully withhold or divert wages for any purpose not expressly permitted by section 4 of P.L.1965, c. 173 (C.34:11-4.4).” And N.J.S.A. 56:8-1.1(c) requires temporary help service firms to post a $1,000 bond.

Patch reached out to the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) for further clarification about the current regulations involving temporary workers, but didn’t receive a reply.

So what motivation does a temp agency have for stepping up to do the right thing? None, O’Connor told Patch.

“Historically, what has happened is that workers are facing dangerous conditions for dealing with things like wage theft or predatory fees – the buck is passed back and forth,” the activist said. “The contracting company will say that the temp agency is responsible … the temp agency will say that the contracting company is responsible. And what ends up happening is that nobody is held responsible.”

That’s why it’s time to stop waiting for some of the state’s largest businesses to take the reins of a loose horse, advocates say – change needs to come from the outside.

Enter the “Temporary Workers Bill of Rights,” a proposed law making its way through the state Legislature.

If the bill becomes law, it would require temp agencies to provide workers with information that includes the job location, terms of employment and the pay rate in English and the workers’ primary language. The bill would also spell out that a temp worker’s wages can’t fall below New Jersey’s minimum wage after deductions, and require agencies to register with the state Division of Consumer Affairs.

Agencies that don’t comply would face fines of up to $1,000 per violation.

The bill, which was sponsored and introduced by Sen. Joseph Cryan and Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez, would also provide key protections such as ensuring equal compensation, providing more transparency, eliminating excessive fees and rolling out anti-retaliation measures to protect whistleblowers.

The proposed law, A-1474/S-511, has seen a rocky road since it was first laid at the feet of state lawmakers. It got final approval from the Legislature in August. However, Gov. Phil Murphy conditionally vetoed the proposed law in September, saying that $1 million should be appropriated to ensure the NJDOL will be able to enforce it, among other concerns. But the governor also praised the bill’s general goals and said he is open to a revised version of the legislation – which advocates promised is on the way. Read More: Gov. Murphy Vetoes 'Temp Worker Bill Of Rights' In New Jersey

Many advocates expected the new version of the bill to see a Senate vote in October. To their surprise, the vote was tabled, leaving the proposed law in limbo until the next Senate voting session on Nov. 21. Read More: Democrats Postpone Final Vote For Temporary Worker Bill

The bill’s primary Senate sponsor, Joe Cryan of the 20th District, didn’t mask his disappointment with his peers’ failure to move the legislation forward last month.

“It got held because the lives of temp workers simply don’t matter enough to the people who need to vote,” Cryan said.

New Jersey wouldn’t be the first state to roll out such a law; California, Illinois and Massachusetts have passed legislation that targets the temporary staffing industry. But the current proposal is taking things a big step too far, critics say.

According to the New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA), if the proposed law gets the governor’s signature, it will be a huge thorn in the side of temp agencies and their clients – and it may not even be needed.

NJBIA Director of Government Affairs Alexis Bailey previously said the commissioner of the Department of Labor already has “extensive authority” to penalize bad actors through current statutes.

“While the intent of the bill is to create additional protections for temporary workers, the provisions in it range from concerning to completely unworkable for businesses, which are often challenged enough to maintain their workforces,” Bailey said.

In October, New Jersey Sen. Holly Schepisi (R-39) put forth an alternate plan, S-3182, which was referred to the Senate Labor Committee for further review.

Schepisi said her bill – modeled after Massachusetts’ law – is a “commonsense alternative” that everybody can live with.

“A similar law enacted in New England has been well-received, and there’s no reason we shouldn’t follow that example,” Schepisi said.

The senator noted that A-1474/S-511 passed both houses earlier this year without the support of a single Republican legislator. The measure’s heavy-handed mandates on agencies would be difficult – if not impossible – for staffing firms to satisfy, she said.

“With the current economy, we’re in no position to enact laws that will put people out of work,” Schepisi insisted. “An effort to shield workers from harm would end up hurting everybody – costing workers their jobs, driving temp agencies out of the state, and leaving seasonal businesses that need to hire temporary labor for periods of peak demand with no place to turn.”

Industry advocates are now lining up behind the senator’s alternate bill.

“S-3182 allows temporary staffing firms to survive in the current New Jersey business climate while safeguarding worker rights and not destroying the temporary sector in the state, whereas A-1474 does not,” the NJSA wrote, adding that Schepisi’s version is more “narrowly focused” and will punish “bad actors” without harming the majority of law-abiding employers.

It isn’t only temp agencies who will pay the price if the revamped Cryan/Lopez version of the bill gets the governor’s signature, spokespeople with the NJSA told Patch. Customers who shop at the stores that use temporary labor could find themselves paying more at the register, or facing shipping delays when they order a product online.

According to the group:

“Recruiting, employment, and retention costs will all rise for staffing companies, which will then be passed along to our clients. It will also force businesses’ confidential information to no longer be protected and create new administrative burdens. Probable outcomes of this will include clients then passing along cost to consumers (hurts the New Jersey economy), companies reducing or even eliminating usage of temporary staffing (will eliminate jobs and reduce opportunities for employees which this bill is looking to assist) or in severe cases, will force businesses to move to other states due to the increased cost of doing business in New Jersey … Regarding stock/warehouse issues, if this bill is passed, it will limit the opportunity for warehouse employees (especially if transportation is unavailable for certain areas which don’t allow for public transportation) – therefore creating shortages in staff and delays in shipping/logistics. The reality is this bill could prove to be more harmful for those individuals it was originally intended to help.”

On Target Staffing has criticized activists for linking the September crash on the Palisades Parkway to the bill currently working its way through the state Legislature.

“Misinformation can only add to the pain of the survivors and the families of the deceased,” the company told Patch when we first reached out in October.

“We have always had the utmost concern for our team members, and are disappointed to learn of the apparent effort to link this event to a political agenda,” a spokesperson added.

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‘IT COULD HAVE BEEN ME’

But despite the full court press from the temping industry, advocates say they won’t quit until the Temporary Workers Bill of Rights is on the books.

On Nov. 12, a coalition of groups from around the country rallied on French Street in New Brunswick, where many of the city’s temp agency offices are located.

“From tech in the Bay Area to manufacturing and warehousing in New Jersey and everywhere in between, the staffing industry has grown to a behemoth that now employs over 16 million workers nationally,” said Sheila Maddali, executive director of the National Legal Advocacy Network.

“What these workers have in common is lower pay, less access to benefits and a ‘permatemping’ system that keeps many in bad jobs for months or even years,” Maddali said. “New Jersey can lead the way toward reversing this trend, but only if the New Jersey Senate votes yes on November 21.”

Three days after the rally in New Brunswick, several civil rights groups, racial justice advocates and faith organizations sent a letter of support for the temp worker bill of rights to Senate President Nicholas Scutari and his peers in the Senate.

The letter alleges that there is a history of anti-Black discrimination in New Jersey’s staffing industry. For example, a member of Lyneer Staffing, based in Lawrenceville, claimed in a lawsuit that the national chain of nearly 50 temp agency branches "recruited, hired, and sorted candidates based upon race.”

At Lyneer, African American candidates were referred to as "number 2s," the lawsuit alleged. When the human resources director complained to Lyneer’s directors that the practice was unlawful, she was fired, her lawsuit claimed.

The groups wrote:

“The temporary staffing agency industry in New Jersey is rife with exploitation, with many workers – a majority of whom are Black and Latinx – trapped in a perpetual cycle of poverty as they bounce from one second-tier job to another, rarely seeing the types of wage raises and access to benefits that their direct-hire counterparts enjoy … Failing to support A1474/S511 perpetuates an exploitative status quo that ought not to be allowed to continue.”

Signatories to the letter included the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, Faith in New Jersey, the Latino Action Network, the League of Women Voters of New Jersey, the League of Women, Voters of Lawrence Township, NAACP New Brunswick Area, the New Jersey Coalition of Latino Pastors and Clergy, the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, and Salvation and Social Justice.

What should the people who spend their money at businesses who use temporary labor think about all of this?

“The best action consumers can take is to be informed constituents and call on their legislators to take action to end abuse in this industry,” Garrett O’Connor of Make the Road New Jersey told Patch.

“Yes, there is certainly an ethical cost attached to the use of labor supplied by abusive temp agencies, but the responsibility for it doesn't rest with consumers; it rests with staffing agencies and the businesses that contract them, as well as with legislators who will ultimately decide if this industry will be adequately regulated when they vote again on A1474/S511,” he said.

At the end of the day – even if the Temporary Worker Bill of Rights passes – it will come too late to help the people who died on the Palisades Parkway on Sept. 2.

Mercado told Patch that he is aware of the tragic crash, and that he grieves for the people who died that day – and their families, too.

“I mean, we are not bad people,” he said. “The only thing that we want is to have a job.”

And when Mercado thinks about the lives that were lost that night, it’s hard not to also think about the tragedies yet to come.

“It could have been me,” he added sadly.

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